Closed Meetings by Council-Elect Ruled Legal

The City Council-elect did not violate the state’s open meetings laws by excluding the public and press from some of its discussions, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled this week.

A local newspaper had filed suit against the city and the five council members-elect--who were elected March 7 and will be sworn in next Tuesday--complaining that they had violated the Ralph M. Brown Act, which requires elected officials to conduct virtually all business in public.

The San Gabriel Valley Daily Tribune was granted a temporary restraining order on March 24, which compelled the council-elect to permit the public and press to attend its meetings and provide 72 hours notice of the matters to be discussed.

But on Monday, Judge Dzintra I. Janavs reversed this ruling, rejecting the newspaper’s request for a preliminary injunction on the grounds that the Brown Act does not apply to elected officials who have not taken their oaths of office.

Newspaper Disappointed

“Obviously, we’re disappointed that she chose not to apply the Brown Act,” said Stephen Contopulos, the newspaper’s attorney. “But we hope the council members . . . will voluntarily subject themselves to the Brown Act.”

Council members-elect this week hailed the ruling, but said they did not expect it to have any effect on the proceedings during the final few days before incorporation.

“I don’t foresee any more meetings that wouldn’t be open anyway,” said Mayor Pro Tem-elect Paul Horcher. An attorney, Horcher said he believed the judge’s ruling was consistent with the law. “The judge decided she would adjudicate and not legislate.”

As part of their defense, the council members-elect said they had been told by Ruth Bennel, executive officer of the county Local Agency Formation Commission, that they were not bound by the Brown Act until they are sworn in. The county counsel has given the same advice to newly incorporating cities for more than 20 years, Bennel said.

Spirit of the Law

In its suit, the newspaper acknowledged that the law did not specifically cover incorporating cities, but argued that the council had violated the “spirit” of the Brown Act by discussing matters, such as the selection of a new mayor and interim city manager, behind closed doors.

Janavs would not comment on her ruling.

The newspaper has not decided whether to pursue the matter further, Contopulos said, but he called on legislators to change the law. “I think it’s a real problem the Legislature should address, because I think it clearly violates the purpose of the act.”

Mayor-elect Phyllis Papen said she hoped Monday’s ruling would clarify the law for the next city that incorporates. Papen stressed that the council never sought to conceal its decision-making from the public.